GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 66 Several lssues ago, tn GWS #61, twenty children and teenagers wrote about whether or not they felt that adults took them serlously, and whether they mlnded age-restrlctlons on certain rights, such as o the rtght to vote. Some minded thls more than others, and some may mlnd more (or less) at another time tn thetr lives than they do now. h What can the young people who do mtnd do with thelr frustraUon? How can they try to get certaln rights for themselves when they have so llttle access to the very mechanisms, poliUcal and social, by which they might work to obtain them? Jan Hunt, in this issue, quotes her son's lnstlnctlve recognlUon of this paradox 'Children can't vote for the rlght to vote.' That belng so, lt seems clear that chtldren need allles ln the adult population, older people who belleveJust as strongly in the need for How can a chlld llke thts one gatn some of the rtglrts hc ctrildren's rights as children themselves do. It's tricky - it wouldn't be now lacks? Childrcn's riglrts arc the subJect of thls approprlate for adults to do all the work on behalf of children's rights, lssue's Focus, pafcs 23-25. any more than it would make sense for whites to be the only ones working on behalf of blacks, or school olllcials the only ones lobbying INSIDE THIS ISSUE: for homeschooling legislatton (lf we can even lrnaâ‚Źllne such a thlngl) NEWS &REPORTS p. 2-3 The impulse for any such struggle has to come from withtn the group ttself. But glven the nature of the present set-up, children may be particularly tn need of allies. As John Holt wrote tn the openlng pages CFIALLENGES & CONCERNS p. 3-a of Escape ITom Childhmd, 'I make myself - uninvited - a spokesman Opentng Our Homes to Communtty Llfe, for chlldren lrn thls matter because they have so few other spokesmen Teachtng Neighbor's Chtldren and are ln so poor a poslUon to speak for themselves.' The wrlters ln this lssue's Focus demonstrate that young people OUESTIONING STAIVDARDIZED TESTS already have adult allles - not enough, perhaps, but several who have p.4-6 already done some serious thinking and writing on the subject of children's rights. Having had more erperience with the way the larger Not a Useful Measure, Strange Answers, societ5r operates, these adults may be ln a better position than the If You Hcue to Test children they are wrlUng about to think about strategy, tactlcs. Thus the discusslon in this issue centers on the quesflon of how we will be WATCHING CHILDREN LEARN most likely to get rights for children, and as such it has implications p.6-7,29-31 for other struggles as well. ' Life at Home, Playing Violin in Nursing Some may be wondering whether 'rights' means the freedom to Home, Worktng on a Shtp, Audiences for do anything at all. Jan Hunt makes the point that a child does not Wdters, Foreign-born Children, necessarlly have the righl to an expensive item in a store. But neither Unconsclous l-eamlng does an adult, she adds, and this ls really what we have to remember. John Holt said he was argutng for the rlght of chlldren 'to do what any BOOKREX/IEXMS p.8-lo adult may legally do.'To whatever extent laws stop adults from dolng "anything at all,' they would stop children, even children with far more rlghts than they now have. It's a matter of allowlng ctrlldren to be real 1989 DIRECTORY& RESOURCE LIST members of their society, subJect like everyone else to the restrictions p. rl-22 of certain laws, but also able, like everyone else, to work to change those laws. FOCUS: CHILDREN'S RIGFITS p.23-25 A central questlon in this issue's discussion is whether attltudes Thoughts from Howard Cohen, Bob must change before rights wtl be granted, or whether the grantlng of Eranklln, Merrltt Cllfton, and Jan Hunt rights will be what forces attitudes to change. Perhaps both of these ldnds of changes must progress simultaneously.As attltudes change, TALKING WTITI YOTING PEOPLE: support for chtldren's rtghts will grow. But rtghts are useful levers - as A DISCUSSION WTTI{ THREE Howard Cohen and Bob Flankltn call them - for making change, for HOMESCHOOLERS p.25-27 demandtng that soclety recognlze a partlcular group. And tn the meantime? Chtldren may have to watt for some klnds of changes, but they shouldn't have to wait for adults to treat them, as HOWADULTS LEARN: ONE E)GERImuch as posstble, as lf they are as worthy of respect (or, as Merritt ENCEWTIH SELF-EDUCATION p. 27 -2a Clifton prefers to think of it, consideration), and as likely to be productlve and capable, as we would consider them if we had already RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS granted them the rights in question. This improves things for children p.29 rlghtnow, and may get us to a point at whtch denying children rights no longer makes sense. Susannah Sheffer o
-
NEWS & REPORTS ,9 o
a d
COOPERATIVE SUP'T Pa&:ick Bunts
(AZ wriles:
d
I feel compelled to tell GWS readers
o between homeh that not all encounters publtc o
schoolers and school olllclals are adversarial. We recently moved to Flagstalf, Arizona from Te:ras. We wer€ lgnorant of the statues here concemlng educatton tn the home, so one of the flrst thtngs we did was to set up an appolntment wtth
the County Superlntendent of Schools, Day Farenga (r) and Jermy Fltzslmmons-Gauger work togethcr at thc postage metcr ln our ofhcc.
OFFICE NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS ISS:I I'm delrghted to tell you that IVe signed a contract wtth Ohio State Unlverslty Press to publish the book collecflon of John Holt's letters, now tltled L{e Worth Hving: *lrcted Letters oJ,Iotn Holt, Flnding the right publlsher for thls book has been a lesson ln perseverance, but I've
learned a lot along the way and am now happy to be able to denote myself to the actual work of ediHng the collection and $/riffng lts introduction. Publication is tentatlve$ scheduled for sprtng of 199O. Bound lnto this lssue ls the complete 1989 Directory and Resource List, the biggest one ever. In the past we've run our lists of helpful c.ertified teachers, school districts, professors, lawyers and psychologtsts along wtth the Directory, but we didn t want to cut lnto this issue's editorlal space too severely, so we'r€ holding those lists until next time. Thls glves you more time to help us fatten up the llst of helpful psychologfsts - readers are telltng us that there's a real need for psychologists who are s5rmpathedc to homeschooling and the attitudes that often go along wtth tt, so please do send ln names for thls llst lf you can (only those who are
delinitely willing to be listed, please). Back ln GWS #62 I olfered to read and comment on the writing ofyoung GWS readers. I am now worldng regularly, through the matl, wtth two young apprentices - Kim Kopel in Mlssourl, whose wriung has been ln recrent lssues of GWS, and Chelsea Chapman ln Alaska. I mendon thts both because I'd ltke to let other young wrlters know that the offer ls stlll open, and because I'd ltke all GWS readers know how successful and rewarding, on both stdes, such apprenttceshlps can be. I thlnk lfs often true that as children get to be, say, 12, they begin looktng espectally hard for teachers and resources beyond the family (this is not to say that ctrtldren don't look for, and IInd, these things atyounger ages too) and lt helps lf we have models of how they can meet thls need. I d llke to hear about how this has worked wtth acflvitres other than wridng, lfany ofyou have such storles, and I'd be happy to tell lnterested people more about my own experlenc€.
Mary Nackard. On the day of our meeungwlth her, both my wife and I were fully prepared to do battle if push came to shove. We were
armed with arguments about the terrtble state of the public school system, homeschooling lesson plans that would dazzle most college professors, and an lmpresslve portfollo of our 8-year-old daughter's accompllshments durlng the past year. Boy, were we dtsappointed when the superlntendent gave us nothing but support, encouragement, and understanding, Mrs. Nackard patiently explatned the state statutes to us and provlded us wlth a copy. She gladly answered all our questlons and seemed genuine! pleased to be ofhelp to us. She gave us the name ofthe principal at our local elementaqr school and encouraged us to use him, and the teachers, as resources. She also mentioned that we could use any of the school's textbooks, and the only charge would be to ask. All in all, we were pleasantJy surprised and greatly pleased with the help and encouragement we recelved. Too bad not all encounters can be as positive and reassurlng as ours was. Sdll, it's nlce to know we've got some good people tn high places. [SS:l It sure ls, and we should make sure to let these people know we appreclate them. Unfortunately, one word of cautlon ts needed here: becausewe can't always know ln advance whether a particular superintendent wlll be suppordve, lt's best to flnd out about a state's laws or reglrlatlons yourself bejore such meetings. Not every superlntendent wtll know, or take the trouble to IInd out, what the law regardtng home education actually says.
LESSONS FROM A COURT CASE The Neu Jersey UNSCHOOLERS NETWORK newsletter ran a story a}rlut tle O'Retltg JonilA, wlro lost a tuancg case this past sprtrlg. 8rl,itor Nancy Plent says tl',rc,t
"ttns case !s rwtewofi)tg rnostly
becantse ff is not typical oJ the legal situat{on ure'rre ben unrkUg roith irr Netu
Jerseg. And It defnitely isn't an t'tdbatlon oJ a tend.,' Notrcy Plent also nnde the Jdowttg comnlents uhlch mag b useJul to otlrcrs:
It was an eye opener to note that several people asked us here, "What KIND
of homeschoolers are the O'Reillys?' By this they mean! do they have a structured or unstmctured program? They seemed to
expect that unstmctured famllies would be the ones to cause problems. I'm not sure that any ldnd of program would have
saflsffed CMton lthe school dtstdct tn quesdonl, but yes, the O'Retllys follow an unstructured ptrtlosophy. We have trted to oolnt out over the years that the unstru-ctured ptrtlosophy itself ls not the problem. The problem is ln how you present your phtlosophy. And in thls, the O'Retllys fell down. Clifton gave out mixed stgnals about their conc.erns, so lt was pretty difllcult to antlcipate what they would stress ln the cpurtrmm. Stnce they satd early tn the court proceedings that they agreed the currlculum was equlvalent, but were turntng thetr concern to other matters, lt rvas quite a surprise to ffnd the prosecutor dwelllng on what lessons had been learned the week before... and the week before that. Ltsa O'Reilly was not prepared for thls llne of quesdonlng and was badly battered by the prosecutor on this polnt. Lesson one for parents: Have detailed notes ready on your currlculum and be prepared at all dmes to explain and defend
it thorougfily.
Yes, wen lf you don't normally MAKE detailed noteg on tt. And if you make NO notes - take a warnlng from the Clifton experlence.
The prosecutor also Jumped on the
fact that the O'Reilly family had given them a daily tlmetable. We have frequently warned against thls, and repeat
lt
now. The case worker came to the door expecting to llnd them engagd ln math or other lessons because thafs what their schedule said. You can promise a certain number of hours to the school, but at all costs you must avoid telling them which hours you intend to work. One of the btg advantages to home educadon ls the possibility of a fledble schedule, suited to the student and each day's needs. Ifyou pronrlse a regular dme each day and they catch you dolng somethlng else, it looks bad for you even ifyou are doing your work at another time. Don't promise
times.
LOCAL NEWS andrfral our Hontesclwling
For oddresses oJstate
organizatlons, see
Resource Ltst fn this [ssue. Thts list ts
updoted perldicallg and, sold. separately Jor $2.
Californla: The State Department
of Educadon recently realtrmed the
legality of home educadon, accordlng to the October/November lssue of the
NOKftIERN CALIFORNTA HOMESCHOOL ASSOCIATION Neu.rs. Dr. L.P. Hartzler, of the Department of Educatlon's Altematlve Education Unit, sent NCFIA a letter
which satd ln part, 'Californla State
Deparknent of Education documents..' clearly trdlcate that tt ts condttlondly
legal and approprlate to use the Independent Study strategf for this purpose [of homeschoollngl... We advise all par€nts who contact us about homeschmllng to try to negotlate an Independent Study agreement rather than establlsh and opente a prlvate school tre thetr home, although thls ls a legal opdon for them."
GROWING WTTHOUT SCHOOLING #66
This letter from the DePartment of Educatlon was lrr response to a statement that Dr. Willfam Berck, the Alameda Superlntendent of Schools, had made before the Count5r Board of Educadon. Berck had satd that ten ofthe seventeen superlntendents tn Alameda County are 'adamant that homeschooltng ls not approprlate and not legal.'
Ernau:
Flepresentatlves from ten areas around the state met to dlscuss legislattve plannfng on October l, accordlng to the October lssue of the IgNSAl.lS F\)R ALTERNATTr'E EDUCATION newsletter. The group agreed to have ready both a homeschoollng btll and an amendment to the present compulsory attendance law, and wlll prepar€ them so that'elther (not both) could be used, dependlngon the
legislattve cllmate.'
The blll requlres homeschoolers to
keep dally records, teach 75O hours ayear, and evaluate students yearly (no specillc kind of erraluatlon ls menUoned). The
amendment to the present law requlres the Dtstrlct Attorney seektng to Judge a teacher lncpmpetent to prove lack of formal educaflon and no teachlng experlencc ond no student progress, Malne: In GWS #64 we wrote that homeschoolers attended a Department of EducaUon and Cultural SeMces hearlng to dlscuss proposed revlslons to the rules regarding homeschoollng programs, partlcularly one whlch would have required homeschoolers wtth handtcapped chtldren to follow whatever plan of lnstructlon the Puptl Evaluation Team stlpulated. The September lssue of the Talk Abut Izanhg newsletter now reports that the DECS 'has chosen not to tlgfrten homeschoollng regplattons for families with special ne,eds chlldren.'The new rules say that "a school admtnlstrative unlt' magr, but ls not requtred to, provlde speclal educatlon seMces to "ldendfied exceptlonal students parttctpating ln an approved homeschooltng program.' If the schml decldes not to provtde these seMces to a homeschoollng famtly, the family can't take advantage ofany ofthese servtces unless the chtldren are enrolled ln school. But the famtly tsn't required to
follow the PETs plan of lnstmcUon, either. Ontarlo: The Fall lssue of Child's flay, the newsletter of the CANADIAN
ALLIANCE OF HOMESCHOOLERS, r€ports
that Chtef Attendance Counselor Jake Rogers's proposals for amendlng the province's homeschooltng poltcy tnclude $vtng school board personnel mandatory acc€ss to one's home for hvlce-yearly lnspecdons, tncludlng observafion of teachtng, revlew of ass€ssments, recordkeeping, and the chlld's work, and questlonlng the chtld about the elfectiveness of the irestrucUon. Homeschooler Wendy Priesnitz comments: 'I have recentlv been asked the questlon: Has the home school communlgr brought [t]rts proposall on ttself by not betng able or wllling to negotlate a self-regrl"tory proc€ss (such as mtdwtrrcs were able to put ln place)? Barncy McCaIIrey, Presldent of the Ontario Federaflon ofTeachtng Parents, has for some years been advocatlng an Advisory Commlttee made up of homeschoolers and Mtntstry people. Maybe there ls still dme
for a formal push tn that direcflon,'
GROWING WTTTIOI.JT SCHOOLING #66
CHALLENGES & CONCERNS OPEMNG OUR HOMES TO COMMUNITY LIFE JuIIe Stiller wrltes Jrom Ftatrce: I'd ltke to respond to Susannah's comments tn CWS #64 l"Thinking About Communt$r'|. We don't need more safe spaces for children to get together. We have them. WeVe always had them. Whatwe need ls to open them. to open our homes as they have not been open for decades. To open them as welcoming, learnlng places for all chtldren, and to other adults as well. Thts would mean putilng ourselves ln the posidon of gtvtrng our tlme and talents as a wag o"f lfe. Televisions would have to be turned off, self-centered tnterests put aslde, as we became more cornmunity-directed. We Just might start t"lkittg to our netgfrbors agaln over fences, eatlng together (breaking bread as friends) agatn, and we mlghtJust be amazed at how enrlching, uplifting, and educadonal a true community life can be. Being here in rural France where communlty tles are strong out of nec-esslt5r - people need each other to suMve - has opened my €yes to what real learning is and who the teachers are. Of course there are schools and schoolteachers here, but the richness of human contact outside of school is vast and lntricate, and the children bene{lt enormously. The people ln these small farm communitles pass on skills, social values, and a deep sense of what it is to be human, because their doors are always open, day or night. I never have to call to set up an appolntment or worry that I'm bothering someone when I stop by to talk. People come flrst. My advice to people who want to homeschool or even to experience llfe more fully ls to glve, give, give. Give of your tlme, your talents. Others rnight Just follow your example, your children surely will, and they will grow up to be great, natural teachers, I think what simple societies like the Yequana Indians can teach us today about learnlng and living ts that everythtng we need tntellectually, phystcally or splritually can be found within a communlt5r, a small, humanscale communi$r where the members are deeply committed to each other because they understand that the rlchness and suMval of the communtty, espectally the future of the chlldren, depends on that commitment. When I read GWS or Mothering these days I am struck by the me-me-me, I-I-I tone ofthe letters and articles. They seem to be saying, 'My lnterests are so dlfferent from others'. My family ls misunderstood by my famtly, my neighbors. Where can I find support, warmth, understanding, etc.?' Homeschooling is not Just something we do alone in our homes. It's a natural, continual way of life that
involves the whole communit5r. I llve ln rural Franc€ and am very diflerent from the people here. I am physically taller, I speak bad French, I am Protestant (not Catholc), I homeschool, I breastfeed long-term (here a woman rarely breastlds longer than three months), but I don't feel dilferent or isolated. I talk to
my netghbors. I Join lnto community Ufe. At the begtnnlng, I gave free En$tsh lessons, f sat wtth my neigfrbors'stck, thetr dying. I babysat. I went to baptismsand widdtngs. I conflnually tnvtted people over to eat. In return I was lent books and lnstruments I couldn't alford to buy. I had babysitters when I needed them (people often postponed thelr own plans ln order to take my kids when I was desperate for a sttter). I was allowed to vlsit monuments normally closed to the public. I was given piles offree yarn and needles so I could leam to knit. I even have a knftthg machlne at my dtsposal tf I want to learn'
In short, learning opportunities
have
rained down on me simply berause mY door was always open and an intense
cornmunity life exists here. People don't have much, but there ls a lot to learn.
TEACHING NEIGHBOR'S CHILDREN Last Spring Eileen Perkins of Utah wrote: 'My neigfibor's children have been begging to be homeschooled. They play
with my children and are very envious.
So
this year thelr parents agrecd to let us
have a trial run this summer, because it was durlng vacation. The children are anxious to start sumner school with us and they hope they do well enough to be allowed to contlnue with us in the Fall." We asked Eileen how this experiment had gone, and she wrote:
The lO year old, who does well ln school, came for the novelty of tt all, I think. She enjoyed herself but she seemed to feel a need to be ln competition wlth her I l-year-old brother. She marveled at how llttle dme we spent on spelling, and seemed anxious to work on math. Still it was all rather a game to her. My greatest Joy came from working with her brother. He is a genius, yet not in the c,onventional academic way. He was labeled slow and kept back ln klndergarten. My husband and I thouglt this was a grave mistake. We had seen him fix a stereo while sdll in diapers, He seems to have an incredible knack with anything mechanical or electrical. When he would arrlve in the morning, ld gtve him the math book for the next grade wtth the teacher's edidon. I suggested which pages he might work on, and told him to check hls own work and come to me if there were any problems. He ate up the book. When he got something wrong he would drill hirnself much more than I would ever have demanded. I had said at flrst that we would onlv GROWING WITFIOUTSCHOOLING #66, Vol. I I No.6. ISSN #0745-5305. Published bl-monthly by Holt Associates, 2269 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MAO2la0.$2Olyt. Date of lssue: December I, 198a. Second-class posta3p Pald at Boston. MA. POSTMASTER: Scnd address changes to GWS, 2269 Massachus€tts Avenue,
Cambrtdgc MA 02l4O. ADVEKISERS: Deadllncs are the lSth of oddnumbered months. Contact Patrick Farenga for rates.
A quarterly journal on Waldorf philosophy and
other forms of holistic and spiritual parenting, sctrooling and homeschooling. Nurturing the magical time of childhood. Send $20 (or $5 for a sample) to Nancy Aldrich,
RR2, Box 2675G , Westford, VT have school from lO to noon. He would
stay untll 5:OO and then I'd send him home. He was a delight when we did dramaflcs. Hls slster seemed amazed that he would cooperate tn muslc and drama. I knew he usually trted to get out of those thfuegs ln school, so I was pleased. The btggest reward came when I received a letter from his 26-year-old stster who was teachlng ln Japan. She said she Just had to wrtte because the other sisters in the famtly had written her saying what a change had come over thelr brother. Although he never expressed lt to me, apparently he had nothing but pralse for homeschoolireg. She satd to hear tlrat about him was a mlracle. Sadly, none of thls was really of any interest to tris parents. Th€y ltked it that the children had a place to be during the day, but when I tried to talk about thetr achdevements I seemed to draw a cold attitude, so I stopped trying. There was also one very real obstacle to homeschoollng someone else's child. Whose responsibility was he when school was out? I have four children of my own and it was rather a burden to take along another child when I ran errands in the
afternoon. I wish I had the opporturdty to c.ontlnue teaching hilm. I can only hope that he remembers the exprience when he has his own chlldren. One humorous lncldent occurred when one of the neighborhood boys, who ls 9, came by asktng the boy I was schooling to play. He said he couldn't right then and procecded to explain all the wonders of being taught at home. later the phone rang and it was the 9 year old on the phone saylng he had been told that I taught children and he thought he would enJoy that. He was sure hls mother would approve, and when could he Join. Smiling to myself, I tacdully tried to explatn that six children were enough and I couldn't possibly take on any more.
QUESTIONING STANDARDIZED TESTS NOT A USEFUL MEASURE FlomThe Harvard Educadon Letter,
*pt./OcL 1988:
...Most standardlzed achlerrement test programs promise dlagnostlc informadon that will help teachers and schools meet students'educational needs. The tests, in otherwords, are supposed to lead to lmprovements in teaching and learning. Data gathered from schools suggest
othenvise. Drawing upon a representadve sample of teachers and prtnctpals, Donald Dorr-Bremme and Joan Herman of the Center for the Study of Evaluatlon (CSE) at UCLA conducted a flve-year suwey of test use. In theA 1986 report, they concluded
that school personnel give more wetght to teachers' Judgments than to lnformatlon from mandated extemal tests, uslng test results only 'occaslonally and tdtosyn-
ln planning. Intervtews revealed a number of reasons for this. Teachers believed the tests were not a good measure of what they had taught; they had a better, more specillc idea of students' strengths and weaknesses from their own observatlons and measures. Immediate feedback ts important, but the results from mandated tests came back weeks after students took the tests. Finally, scones were not reported in a way that made them accessible or useful. Such data suggest that standardlzed tests are peripheral to what goes on in classrooms. But critics of tests lind fault for exactly the opposlte reason - they complaln that tests are havlng too great an elfect. Whtle test results may be cratically"
ignored, they malntaln, the antbrlratlcn oftests, especially tests that carry lmportant rewards or sanctlons, leads to curricular declsions that narrow what is taught and learned. ...The dismay that teachers feel when curriculum design and assessment are taken out of their hands is well documented ln a book by Llnda McNeil,
Contadictions oJf Control School
Stnrcture and, *ttrr;rl kwwledge.When classwork conslsts of exerclses that closely resemble test lterns, there ls little of lntrlnslc lnterest for teachers or students. The danger is that teachers may
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leave the professlon, or adopt what McNeil
calls'defenslve' teachlng, deltberately
pr€s€nting stmpliffed, fragmented btts of lnformadon to thetr students. ...Both teachlng and learntng would beneftt lf commerclal tests rellected the last serreral decades of research about the ways people prooess, understand, and master new skills and knowledge. Yet whatwe measure and howwe measure it have changed very llttle over tlme. In the area of readtng, for example, research potrts to the acfive role of readers, as they use prlnt clues and aspects of thetr onn prlor knowledge and expertences to'constmct' meantng from a text. While thts strateglc vlew of the readtng proc€ss has begun to lnform cLassroom matedals and lnstrucdonal practlces, standardlzed readtng tests continue to emphaslze the mastery of a serles of
subsktlls...
A RANGE OF ASSESSMENTS Ftorn the
9
/
M / aa Ed:ucatlon Week:
Schools must use a range ofassess-
ment tools, not standardized tests alone, to measure students' "authentic' achlevement levels, a new report by the Na$onal Assoclation of Elementary School Principals concludes. It calls on schools to adopt new assessment methods, tncluding problem-solving tests, portfolios, and
exhibitions.
While standardlzed tests provlde an ellective means of holding schools more accountable for actrievement levels, the report says, they'usually do not provide information useful for tmProving
indtvidual or school performance.' In
fact, it warns, schools'over-rcliance on
such tests suggests that'many accountaane on the wrong track or headtng ln the wrong dirrectlon.' ...The 65-page report, 'Beyond Standardized Testlng,' - written by Fred M. Newmann, director of the Natlonal Center for Effective Secondary Schools at the Unlversigl of Wisc-onsin at Madlson, and Doug A" fuchibald, asststant researcher for the unlverslty's Center for Policy Research in Educadon - Jolns a gr"o'ittg chorus of crlilclsm of ihe tnfluence of standardlzed tests on curricula and teachlng. Tradittonal forms of assessment, the report argues, tell lftle about the quality of a studenfs ac.compllshments and tend to measure 'trivial and meaningless' types of learntng. ...Copies of the shrdy can be ordered from NAESP hrbltcatlons Sales, l9O4 Associadon Drive, Reston VA 22O91; order
bility trains
number 21O88O8. Indtvidual copies are $7, prepaid: dlscounts are avallable for
multiple orders.
STRANGE ANSWERS Christlrre Wllrde (PN urltes: Thls last sprtng, I gatned an lmportant iresight durlng our annual standard ized tesdng at home. I review my chlldren's tests before sendtng them back GROWING WTTHOI.,N SCHOOLING #66
5
to be erraluated, and ln the readtng
comprehenslon sectlon of Aaron's test (Aaron was 8 when he took the test) was the followtng: 'In each group of sentences below, put a mark by the sentence whlch tells about somethtng that could happen.' The first group of sentences was:
bus enJoyed lts lunch. letter arrtved yesterday. (C) The tree dectded to take a bath. (A) The
(B) The
Aaron's nesponse vns (A). I was a llttle concemed that he had answered such an easy exerclse wrong. Had he mlsunderstood? The next EFoup r,ead as follows: (A) The soup was greedy. (B) TheJewels dug a hole. (C) The rooster crowed at dawn. Aaron answered (B). I was beginning to getworrled now' What had happened? Why these wrong answers? The next
creadve percepdons. I did explain the intent of that test segment to Aaron afterwards, Ietting hdm know that, Just for test purPoses, \ve somedmes have to save our lmagination for real learnlng. I hated havlng to say that, but I made certain Aaron understood hls answers were better than what was expected for the test, but that the test was not able to account for hls ideas. We were both able to accept that.
IF YOU HAVE TO TEST [SS:l From tlme to time we get a letter
or phone call that
gloes
something like
thls: 'l often read tn GWS about families
who have devoted a really long tlme to one proJect or area of study, or not pressured thetr ktds about readlng or math, and I get
senGnces were: (A) The people sold food. (B) The fence went llshing. (C) The blrd caught the brtdge.
Jealous because those o[us who have to face standardized tests at the end of the year don't have that freedom. Do you have
Thls time, Aaron's answer was (C). I was really in a frtght by then. Was my son leamtng dtsabled all thts time and I never knew tt? Was he acflng out hts underlylng dtsgust at taklng thes€ tests, even though he was telltng me he dtdn't mtnd taldng tlem? Was he sulferlng from delusions some deep-seated problem wlth perceiving realtty? What was happentng? As calmly as posslble, I called .Aaron and showed hlm the part of the test I was revlewtng, 'Aaron, these answers are very, uh, lnteresflng. Could you explaln them to me?' I asked nonchalantly. 'How can a
situation?"
bus enJoy tts lunch?' Aaron looked at me very matter-offactly and satd, "Its gas. The bus would enJoy lts gas for lunch.'Then it hit me. Aaron had focused on the word 'could' ln the dlrecdons, and tn the world of a voraclous reader who ls as lmaglnative as chlldren come, a world that sflll has liatry telss, m6nrt€rs and a little btt of moglc, all ldnds of thtngs corrlcl happen. What 8 year old lsn't stlll hearlng and seeing
stories wlth horses that talk, machlnes wtth btg eyes and smiles, and lamps that €Fant three wlshes? I was relieved, and h"ppy. I ltked Aaron's answers. I asked hlm about the others. "Well, tf Jewels are sharp, they can be used to dig a hole ln the ground, can't they?'was hls explanatlon for the second wrong answer. I was still Pir"led about thls btrd catching a brldge bustness. Aaron ercplalned, uslng hts llngers as a blrd's talons to lllustrate, 'If the btrd was flying, and landed on a part of the brtdge ltke thls," and he made a grabbing moflon wlth hts hand, 'you could say tt caught the brtdge.' By now I was srnlltng. How many dmes had I read Itterary metaphors that would descrlbe a certaln acdon or sc.ene ln Just this
manner? I told Aaron that hts answers were very creatlve. I was more than sadsfled
with them now that I understood them because I felt they evldenced an lma$natlon and perccptlon beyond the superficial viewlng of ttrtngs. Howwer, I knew that when I retumed the test, those answers would be marked wrong by a computer, somewhat lowerlng trls overall readlng score, and no one evaluatlng such a test without knowlng Aaron would ever see what I would say werre thoughtfully GROWING WTTI{OUT SCHOOLING #66
any suggestions for families in this
I suspect, from the calls and letters we've been getting, that other readers share thls concern.We do have a few
suggesdons, though none, ofcourse, will flt for weryone. The llrst ls perhaps so obvious that it's often overlooked: make sure that testfng fs acfuallg requtred Ur Vour state, we get a surprlslng number of calls from people who thtnk they have to test when in fact they don't. This comes up most frequently when the family lives in a state that leaves homeschooling declsions to the local school district. In Massachusetts, for example, families and school districts must agre€ on so,Tle method of evaluation, which may or may not be testlng. It's easy for school ollicials who are so lnclined to tell parents that testlng ls requtred ln that district. lf parents don't know any better, they may well accept thls. But what's actually required is nego-
tiation and mutual agreement between famtly and distrlct, and if a family ts strongly opposed to testlng or strongly ln favor of another method of evaluadon. the famtly should make that known. Thls ts why we prlnt stories that question the value of standardized testing {or show lts flaws) - so that families who oppose testlng can substantiate their position, Of course, the relationship between school district and family may be a delicately balanc.ed one, and the famtly may declde that ltghting the testing lssue is not worth the rtsk of being denied permission to homeschool altogether. Each homeschooler has to gauge this individually, and my only point here is that it's essenttal to know what the law actually does and does not i'equlre, so that you can oppose testlng if it's important enough to you to do so.
But what if your state does require testing, or ifyou lose on this part ofthe negotiatlons wtth your superintendent? Homeschoolers have often wrltten about the value of retainlng as much control over the tesdng .rs you crur - which test wtll be used, who wlll administer lt and where, and what wtll be done with the results. Several state laws already stlpulate that parents can choose ln these areas, or that parents and school districts must agree.
Inslst that you and your child be at least as well lnformed about what to exPect as teachers and students are in school. Continue to be as fussy after the test is over. Ask to see not only the numerical results but a copy of your chlld's answers and the correct ones. Computer scoring machines don't know whether your child's wrong answer was the result of
Illling in the blank at random or lntelli-
gent thtnldng that the test does not recognlze (as ln Chrlstlne Wilkte's story, above), but you and your child wlll know and you can be stubborn in your insistence that the school lorow too. Request a meetlng with the superintendent in which you go over your child's wrong answers, one by one, and oller possible explanaflons for them. "He does addition all the time in his head, but he d never seen a problem written out thls way." "She told me that she was confused about what you were looking for here.' Etc. The point is to let everyone know that you don't thlnk the test ls the flnal word on how much your child knows - and substantiate that by giving explanations, as above, about howyou do things in your pardcular educadonal program, or how you know your child is used to looking at such things, and so on. Some parents, reading this, may be thinking, 'My school district would never even agree to such a meeting with me, much less sit through It.' Maybe not, though you should be sure to try, politely, before assumlng this. If relations between you and your district are such that you simply can't imagfne such a meeting, write up your follow-up to the test instead, and make sure that the district acknowledges receiving it. Yes, I know that this is a lot of work. But as with submitting proposals about homeschooling in general, vou want to se€m conscienUous and ihorough almost to the point of being a nulsance - after a while, the school people, who hate papenrrork as much as you do, may decide that the whole thing is more trouble than lt's worth, and rnay agree to stop using the tests, or to use them in a different way, or whatever it is that you were hoping for in the first place. Even if nothing else changes, you will have made lt clear that you don't accept the test's verdict unequivocally. I have to keep repeating that only you know your particular situaflon, and you can only take as many of these suggestions as you think make sense. But I'm not maldng them up - these are all practices that actual homeschooling parents have told me about - and what characterizes all of them is a feeling of being active about
the testing requirement, rather than
passively accepting all that it entails. Finally, you do have some leeway in
determining how important the test will actually be in your own family. If you
think about the test at the end of the year,
and then work backward, plannlngyour homeschooling on the basis of what you know the test tests, you might indeed resent the freedom that others seem to have. But what about taking the risk of having the kind of homeschooling you'd really like to have, and then seelng what happens when test dme comes along? Some parents tell us that they are suprised by how well their child scored on the {irst grade math section, for example, 'even